The invention relates generally to collecting, processing, compiling, and distributing information and data. More specifically, the invention relates to a method, an apparatus, and an article of manufacture for automated tax reporting, payment, and refund.
In recent years, an increasing amount of data and other information necessary to compute the federal, state, local, and foreign income tax liability of individual taxpayers and other taxpayers, including certain trusts, estates, corporations and partnerships, is available electronically and capable of being transmitted over telephone communication equipment or other electronic means to the taxpayer or the taxpayer's agent or representative. For example, payroll, bank statement, residential mortgage payment, and brokerage and mutual fund account information is prepared almost entirely on computers, and is capable of being transmitted electronically in standardized or other readable format. In addition, for data that is necessary to compute a taxpayer's liability but that may not at present be regularly transmitted to the taxpayer, such as the amount of donations made to charitable organizations, the information is generally entered into, and processed by, computers and could easily be transmitted to the taxpayer or the taxpayer's agent electronically using telephone communication equipment, by modem, or through the Internet. Thus, substantially all of the information necessary to compute most individuals' and many other taxpayers' income tax liability is readily available and capable of being transmitted electronically.
In addition, tax return preparation has become increasingly automated. Several computer programs are available for individual taxpayers to compute their federal income tax liability and generate completed tax returns (such as TurboTax, which is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc.). Further, tax return professionals, who prepare over forty-nine percent of individual tax returns, routinely process the tax returns of millions of individuals and other taxpayers on computers with automated software. See Jim McTague, "Auditing the IRS," Barron's 29 (Dec. 23, 1996); Internal Revenue Service, 1995 Data Book 3 (July 1996).
Moreover, few legal interpretational issues or methodology variations exist with respect to the income tax liability of individuals and other taxpayers whose taxable income, gain, loss, and deduction consist substantially of wages, interest, dividends, capital gains and losses, residential mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and other similar typical items. For taxpayers whose income tax liability consists substantially of these items, as is the case with many or most U.S. individual taxpayers, computation of income tax liability is generally a routine matter of collecting the relevant data, processing it, reflecting the data and ultimate calculations on the proper form or forms, and transmitting or otherwise sending the forms to the relevant taxing authorities.
Finally, taxing authorities have increasingly automated the tax collecting and return filing process. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") permits in certain situations the electronic filing of tax returns and the payment and refund of income taxes through electronic money transfers. For example, in 1997, thirteen million returns were filed electronically, and 4.2 million Form 1040EZ returns were filed by touch-tone phone. However, even with the ability to electronically file, less than 18% of all tax returns were filed electronically by Apr. 11, 1997. See Internal Revenue Service, "IRS Concludes Successful Tax Season" (Press Release) (Apr. 17, 1997). As a further example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,057 to Longfield shows a process for expediting tax refund payments through the use of a loan by an authorized financial institution. Accordingly, few technological, legal, or practical obstacles exist for the fully automated preparation and filing of federal and state tax returns for many individuals and other taxpayers, and further for the payment or refund of taxes.
However, despite these technological advances, the potential for fully-automated tax reporting has not yet been realized for several reasons. First, at present, it is still necessary for individuals and other taxpayers to collect and save hard copies of, or otherwise record, all of the data and other information needed to compute their tax liability. This information includes: IRS Forms W-2 from their employers; IRS Forms 1099 from their banks; each mutual fund in which interests are held, each broker in respect of dividends, interest and gross brokerage proceeds, and other persons from whom payments are received; IRS Forms 1098 in respect of residential mortgage interest paid; and canceled checks or other acknowledgments from charitable organizations.
Second, to prepare a tax return individually, even if a taxpayer purchases tax preparation software, installs it in a computer, learns to use the tax preparation software (and the relevant substantive tax law necessary to navigate through the software), the taxpayer must manually enter the tax liability information into the computer. Alternatively, even if the taxpayer hires an individual accountant, or other tax return preparer, the taxpayer must deliver all of the hard copies of data and other tax liability information to the accountant, who, in turn, must manually enter this data information into a computer. For example, the process claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,057 to Longfield must occur in the offices of an authorized tax return preparer who must manually input the taxpayer's tax information into a data processing machine.
Third and finally, taxpayers, at present, must print out or receive back completed income tax returns, and manually write checks for ultimate tax liability and mail or have mailed the entire package to the relevant taxing authorities. In certain circumstances, as mentioned above, tax returns may be filed electronically, and payments may be made electronically or refunds may be received electronically. However, this ability to file electronically is used sparsely. See Internal Revenue Service, "IRS Concludes Successful Tax Season," (Press Release) (Apr. 17, 1997). Presumably, such sparse usage of the current electronic filing system is due to the laborious manual steps still required and that the modicum of automation offered by the current electronic filing system is not worth the effort to use it.
As a consequence of this manually intensive process, April 15 is a date of considerable concern to the U.S. individual taxpayer, not only because of the tax liability due on that day, but also because of the substantial time expenditures necessary to file annual federal, state, local, and foreign tax returns, even when the returns are prepared by a tax professional. For example, in fiscal 1995, U.S. taxpayers spent 5.3 billion hours fulfilling their tax responsibilities. See Jim McTague, "Auditing the IRS," Barron's 29 (Dec. 23, 1996). For this reason, the federal income tax system has been the target of legislative proposals for substantial "simplification" that would reduce the reporting requirements of many taxpayers. However, in order to achieve this tax reporting simplification, the legislative proposals would generally make substantial alterations to the entire federal income tax system, with significant adverse consequences.